As education systems in many countries respond to demands for higher standards, they face the challenge of how to achieve equity. Put simply, how can systems continue to raise overall levels of achievement whilst reducing the gap between higher and lower performing groups of learners? This paper reflects on evidence collected as a result of a…

In England, federations are defined as groups of schools that have a formal agreement to collaborate with the aim of raising achievement and promoting inclusion and innovation. This paper presents a number of findings from the case study strand of a 3-year study investigating the impact of 37 federations (see Lindsay et al., 2007). Maximum…

In an effort to intentionally create the level of deep learning necessary for practitioners to make meaningful changes in their classrooms, professional networks are increasingly being promoted as mechanisms for knowledge creation that can lever the kinds of changes that make a difference for students. This paper explores the way networks function…

This paper reflects on experiences of working with schools in urban contexts as they have attempted to improve the quality of learning. Set within the context of the English education system during a period of intense national pressure to "raise standards", these experiences have been focused around issues of performance and leadership in schools…

In recent years, networking and collaboration have become increasingly popular in education. However, there is at present a lack of attention to the theoretical basis of networking, which could illuminate when and when not to network and under what conditions networks are likely to be successful. In this paper, we will attempt to sketch the…

This paper implemented a comparative approach to investigate the relationships between test-based school accountability policies in 2 German states and teachers' acceptance and usage of feedback information. Thuringia implemented mandatory tests for secondary schools based on competency modeling and performance data controlled for socioeconomic…

This paper illustrates the surplus value of multilevel exploratory factor analysis in educational effectiveness research. Educational researchers often use measures for process variables at the class or school level to explain differences in student outcomes. Recently, van de Vijver and Poortinga (2002) have developed a procedure for multilevel…

The "mushrooming" of private schools for low-income families has been widely noted in the literature; however, very little is known about the quality of these schools. This research explored the relative quality of private unaided (recognised and unrecognised) and government schools in low-income areas of Hyderabad, India. A preliminary census to…

The present study focuses on the perception of primary school principals of school performance feedback (SPF) and of the actual use of this information. This study is part of a larger project which aims to develop a new school performance feedback system (SPFS). The study builds on an eclectic framework that integrates the literature on SPFSs.…

This article clarifies the reasons underlying educators' cultivation of community involvement in their schools and highlights the role that social capital plays and the benefits of partnering. In this qualitative case study, documents, observations, and 25 interviews with head teachers, teachers, and community partners at 2 Ontario secondary…

This study examined the importance of aspects of the school climate for adolescents' psychosomatic health using multilevel modelling. Analyses were based on 18,571 ninth-grade students distributed over 1,026 classes and 284 schools in the greater Stockholm area in 2004 and 2006. Both individual- and contextual-level associations between aspects of…

Summer learning studies have been set up to investigate the evolution of initial group differences in academic achievement, for example, between low- and high-socioeconomic status (SES) children. Moreover, this approach has been used to demonstrate the absolute effect of going to school on children's learning. In the present study, we used…

When evaluating schools' effectiveness, is it better to use absolute "achievement levels" or to use "learning rates" over a 9- or 12-month period? Or is it better to use a new measure, seasonal "impact", which is defined as the acceleration in learning rates that occurs when students finish summer vacation and start the school year? Answering this…

The research findings presented in this paper illustrate how the "value added" of schooling can be assessed empirically using cross-sectional data. Application of the regression-discontinuity approach within a multilevel framework produces both an estimate of the absolute effect of 1 year schooling and an estimate of the variation across schools…

This article analyzes the distribution of mathematics achievement among class, school, municipality, and state in Argentina. Data from the Year 2000, 6th-grade Primary School Census from the Minister of Education are analyzed using multilevel methodology. The results indicate that all levels of the education system are relevant and must be…